MISCELLANEOUS HINTS. 383 



Good locks can only be obtained from the best artisans, and, 

 to insure their quality, should be made to order by those only 

 in whom we have the utmost confidence. There is no part of 

 the gun that requires so much care and skill as the manufac- 

 turing of the lock, and consequently there is no part in which 

 there is more deception practised. It is impossible to judge of 

 the quality of a lock by a mere examination of its structure, as 

 the spring, swivel, or some other portion of it may soon grow 

 weak, or give way entirely after a few days' shooting, if the 

 metal used in its manufacture is not of the very best kind, and 

 put together with that skill so well understood by an expe- 

 rienced and honest Gunsmith. The attachment of the swivel 

 and arrangement of the hole for the scear-pin are the two most 

 important points in the putting of a lock together, as the one 

 controls the movements of the mainspring, while the other im- 

 parts the proper play of the scear on the tumbler, and produces 

 that agreeable click which every Sportsman delights to catch 

 upon his ear when handling a good gun. 



Locks can be purchased in England from a shilling to four 

 pounds a pair. Great numbers of inferior locks are imported 

 by our Hardware men. 



GUNPOWDER— ORIGIN, ETC. 



The discovery of this powerful compound, although gene- 

 rally attributed to a German named Schwarz, a student well 

 skilled in Alchemy, is nevertheless conceded by most inquirers 

 into the subject to have been well known to some of the more 

 enlightened nations of the Ancients, and more particularly, at a 

 very early period, to the ingenious inhabitants of the Celestial 

 Empire, as we have stated in another place. 



Some investigators of the subject assert that it was in use by 

 the Chinese about or a short time after the commencement of 

 the Christian era, and this curious people themselves even claim 

 its invention and general use for ages prior to this period. 

 Whether this be so or not, we believe that it is granted by all 

 hands that Berthold Schwarz's discovery of the compound was 

 perfectly original in himself, and therefore should not be shorn 

 of the immortal celebrity that is, and will ever be, attached to 



